Winner of the Great American Jazz Piano Competition in 2002 and a past guest on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz, pianist/composer/vocalist Deanna Witkowski has been heralded for her "consistently thrilling" playing and her "boundless imagination" (All Music Guide). Her 2009 recording, From This Place, marries sacred texts with the richness of jazz and led to a second interview on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition Sunday. Fluent in Portuguese, Witkowski has toured three times in Brazil, appearing at the Recife Jazz Festival and Modern Sound in Rio de Janeiro. Her duo with São Paulo based guitarist/vocalist Filó Machado recently completed a week-long East Coast tour. Witkowski's trio presentation, Moving with the Spirit: The Sacred Jazz of Mary Lou Williams has been presented at the Kennedy Center and Duke University. As a side person, Witkowski performs in drummer Vanderlei Pereira's Brazilian jazz sextet, "Blindfold Test," and the BMI/New York Jazz Orchestra.

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